One Night with Janis Joplin Opens March 15 at Pasadena Playhouse

March 7, 2013 -

PASADENA, CA  With the premiere of One Night with Janis Joplin at the Pasadena Playhouse on March 15, writer-director Randy Johnson brings yet another electrifying musical experience to Southern California audiences.

The award-winning production opens March 15 and runs through April 11 at the Pasadena Playhouse, in Association With The Estate of Janis Joplin and Jampol Artist Management.

The productions arrival in Pasadena marks something of a homecoming for Los Angeles resident and USC School of Theatre alumnus Johnson, the producer, writer, visual artist, and director behind such diverse theatrical portraits as the original producer of Always, Patsy Cline; and director of the historic Elvis: The Concert, which has played large venues and arenas around the world for the past 15 years.

Writer and director of The Wildest: The Music of Louis Prima and Keely Smith and Conway Twitty  The Man, The Music, The Legend and concert events such as Bernie Taupins epic Commitment to Life benefit for AIDS Project Los Angeles (featuring such megastars as Barbra Streisand, Elton John, George Michael, Julie Andrews, Joni Mitchell, and Liza Minnelli ); as well as events for Audrey Hepburn, Tammy Wynette, Michael Bolton and countless others.

Johnson began his theatre career in Los Angeles co-producing Larry Kramers The Normal Heart, starring Richard Dreyfus and Kathy Bates in its West Coast premiere at the Las Palmas Theater in Hollywood. He is the original director of the Las Vegas production of Mike Tyson: The Undisputed Truth starring the international boxing legend Mike Tyson at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas April 2012.

He­­ has received multiple awards and rapturous reviews for his uplifting, cathartic stage spectaclesand for his philanthropic efforts. He was given the Crystal Apple Award for his work on behalf of AIDS Project Los Angeles and deemed Volunteer of the Year for his advocacy by AIDS support group La Shanti.

For Johnson, great music and theater have their own philanthropic impactand the power to transform audiences: As we are held hostage to a manufactured pop culture on a daily basis, he declared in his artistic statement for One Night's program, I feel we must constantly revisit our cultural history and explore the authentic forces that have shaped the landscape of our lives. One of those authentic forces is Janis Joplin.

He further insists, Janis is a true artist without contrivance or artifice. People like to say ahead of her time. I happen to believe she was right on time. One Night with Janis Joplin isnt just Janis story: its all of our stories in one way or another. We all touch and inform each other as we travel this life. I trust that the audience will leave the theatre with a piece of Janis heart, her spirit and her wisdom. The world is a better place because she was here for a moment.n